Our first egg and it's mid winter!

I got my first egg today. Of course mid winter here in Alaska. However, it wasn't in the nesting box. It was laying in the middle of the coop. Any suggestions for getting them to lay in the boxes. They don't seem interested in the boxes...

I got my first egg today. Of course mid winter here in Alaska. However, it wasn't in the nesting box. It was laying in the middle of the coop. Any suggestions for getting them to lay in the boxes. They don't seem interested in the boxes...

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Leave a fake egg in the boxes or even a golf ball might do the trick. I just got my first beautifully blue egg from my super blue egg layer hatched May 9 five days ago and she's laid three since then. Now I wish her 7 clutchmates would start, too. Can they be far behind? Yes chickens do start laying in midwinter but they may be a month or two older then those who start in the spring or summer.